To remain positive and confident when no matter how well you are prepared and you still don't get the breaks can be pretty disheartening but i am doing it . I really enjoy writing my diary but it gets a little monotonous when at the end i am usually out before the final recently no matter how well i played.

I console myself knowing that great players like Marcel , Ram and Devilfish were out before the dinner break but it doesn't really help . I usually only talk about the poker but first today i will give you an insight into how i prepared for this event.

2 years ago when i wrote " tournament rollercoaster " about 18 months on the circuit my biggest problem was lack of discipline . Like most players as soon as i busted out of a tournament i went straight into a cash game playing until the early hours , then bed till noon , luch , television for a couple of hours and back to the casino.

I hardly ever play cash now ( admittedly i wasn't that good as it needs a totally different set of skills to tournament poker ) but what i do is take my role as a professional sponsored player very seriously . While here in Vienna i have played 8 tournaments , within 5 minutes of finishing i have been in the shuttle back to my hotel , i have analysed and self cticised my game then spent up to 2 hours writing my diary , the day before the EWSOP while most players played the Super Satellite i took the day off and visited Viennas centre , got an early night and was in great shape for the day one , on top of that i have changed my diet and started exercising .

The reason is apart from being poker ambassador for UK Betting , in order to succeed in todays poker world if you aren't prepared to adapt to the new players and the bigger fields and multi day tournaments you are never going to win . It isn't enough to be a great player , you have to be focused and relaxed and constantly striving to improve.

Even if you do all this however there is no guarantee you will win of course , if you don't get the cards or hit the flops there is only so much stealing and positional play you can use to survive . As Tom Mcevoy wrote " you have to survive to get lucky "

Before i tell you what happened to me , here are a couple of examples of hitting form and there effect . In 2 big pots yesterday Ross Boatman hit perfect flops once with KK v JJ flop came K J ? and he won a big pot , then with 88 v AT flop was A T 8 and again all the chips went in , Ross is actually my favourite to win it , he is middle of the field going into day 2 with 45,000 , the chip leader has 140,000 but Ross has made the final here 3 times in a row so has the experience , another player i think will do well is Alan Betson who is starting day two with 55,000 .

The other example is Dave Colclough , we were on the same table to start and Dave dropped to 1800 before going all in with QQ v AK and doubling up , the very next hand he flopped trip 4's and got paid , earlier he had AA in the BB but no raise , then later having nursed a short stack he won another 3000 with AA to get to 19,000 then went out with AA , he limped in FP as did one other , one player to whom first position limping doesn't mean a big hand raised to 2000 , Dave made it 6200 and he called , flop was 7 high and Dave check raised all in , the guy had 77 and made quads on the turn . My point here is at least Dave had AA 3 times that i know of which helps and as you will see my last hand was the reverse but i didn't hit the set !

Ok, got that out of my system , here's what happened.

The levels had been reduced to 75 minutes as instead of 109 runners this year there were 298 ! I actually heard one player didn't play as the EPT TV release form we all have to sign was in English and he only understands German .

On my table i had Tony Kenadall and Dave Colclough , we had 10,000 chips and at 25 50 there is no reason to play fast , during the first level i won one pot with KQo on the button , with 3 players the flop of 4 J T was checked , 9 on the turn gave me the nuts and i bet 300 and both called , river was an A , i bet 1000 and was called by one player with 78 and the 4th straight !

I ended the level with 10,600 . In level 2 i called a raise with A5 of diamonds and the flop was A 2 4 with two diamonds , turn was a 4 river the Q of diamonds , i bet 300 , one player called with a Q and the other with his AJ . I then picked up my biggest hand of the night QQ , Dave limped in as did i , the SB called , flop was 6 6 8 with a flush draw , SB bet and i put him on a flush draw , Dave called and i did , turn was a 4 that i didn't like , we all checked , river was a 5 . the SB thought about bluffing but was too long and eventually checked , my 2 pair won the pot .

I had about 11,000 then i lost a pot , Tony raised to 300 , i called with AJs , flop was Q 8 3 with two of my suit , i had him on TT , JJ or AK and thought i would give him a chance to bet the turn where i would check raise , turn wa a 7 , he checked again , now i bet 850 and he raised to 2850 , i assumed he didn't believe i had a Q and his pair was winning so i called thinking i could win with at least an A or a club , river was an A , he checked and for some reason i decided not to bet , he won with AK , he thought i was stealing on the turn and reraised with no draw .

I finished the level with 8100 , still comfortable as the blinds were only 75 150 .

During the 3rd level i played 88 and AQs won both pots and got back to 9575 then in the 4th level i one won pot checked down when i back doored Kings full , flop was all diamonds A high with a K , turn another K , river an A , i had KQo on the button but with 4 others in the pot couldn't bet. I ended the level with 9075 .

It was during this level that Dave Colclough went down to 1800 and i heard one of the funniest lines ever at a poker table , Tony had ordered something to eat which came with a plate of chips , with absolute sincerity he picked the plate up and said to Dave " do you want some chips " not realising the irony of the double meaning in his offer , maybe you had to be there .

At the start of level 5 they broke our table , this time it did effect my stack as 10 minutes later they broke the table i was sent to so i never got into any rythm on it and because of this had to lay down my second biggest hand of the day .

On my right was Garry Bush and Rob Hollink , both with 18 - 20,000 and on my left Mr Poker Europa Nic Sczeremeta , on hand one Rob raised to 900 , i called with AQs and Nic who usually only reraises with QQ or better bet half his stack , we both passed . I later saw Rob bet the turn on a flop of J T T T , Nic passed saying he was passing a full house and Rob showed 23o , this is the difference in having been sat there for 5 hours and knowing your opponents .

On the second round after i had sat down and one hand before the table was broke i picked up JJ in the SB , FP raised to 1500 and was called , i had 7200 and although i knew i was in front of the caller i hadn't been there long enough to know what i was up against in FP so i called , flop was K 5 7 , i checked the FP bet 1500 and the limper raised to 3500 , i passed as did the FP , again this is about knowing your players , the player who raised to 3500 showed AQo .

Now i got moved again and even though i only had 5700 the blinds were 150 300 and i liked my position , i only knew one player , all the big stacks were to my right and i had the shortest stack on my BB , i really felt if i could get a couple of double ups i would make it to day 2 , but first i had to survive 4 more levels .

I picked up the blinds once and ended level 5 with 5375 , now the blinds were still 150 300 but with a 25 ante costing 675 a round , average was approx 15,000 . I blinded away to 3350 , in the meantime the BB doubled up with JJ followed by QQ , the new short stack raised to 1000 in FP , to me and i had AK for the second time in 6 hours , i went all in and he called for his last 1200 with AQ , flop was A high , no Q or running pairs for a split like in Deauville and i was up to 6000 .

I blinded away another round then 2 new players came to the table both on my right and i had played with them on my first table so had an idea of there play , on my second button after they joined the player 2 to my left raised to 1200 , he had 6200 left , passed to me i picked up TT , with 1875 in the pot if i flat call here the BB who has 12,000 now could call for 900 more so i have to raise , also i know the player who raised will lay down any pair up to QQ and will also pass AJs or AQ , possibly even AK for a 4200 all in raise , i went all in , all passed to him and i kid you not he thought for a while then said " ok , i have to call " he had KK ! Having seen that this was probably only one of 2 hands he would have called me with.

Now remember what happened to Dave when he had AA v 77 , the odds of either pair hitting a set are obviously the same and in Daves case the guy hit both of them , in my case the flop came K 5 2 5 8 . Out in 161st as if that matters .

I'll tell you one thing , it is only a matter of time , i am always professional in my approach , i am playing well and when i get the run of card/ flops that is bound to even out in the long run i guarantee i will win one of these top events of that i have no doubt whatsoever !